Noah Read online

  Kameron turned the screen of his computer off and gestured him inside. Duncan eyed the two chairs in front of the desk and decided to leave them to his parents, so he grabbed one of the folding chairs Kameron kept in the closet and sat on the side of the desk, as close to Kameron as he could without actually climbing into the man’s lap. Zach wouldn’t have been amused if he had.

  Kameron shot him an amused look, but he turned serious as soon as Duncan’s parents entered the room. They sat in the chairs Duncan had left free for them and Kameron nodded. “Ronald, Elianor.”

  “Alpha.”

  Kameron looked at Duncan and Duncan suddenly wanted to run. He looked at his parents, saw the curiosity in their eyes, and took a deep breath. “I wanted to talk to you, and Kameron has agreed to be here when I tell you what I have to say.”

  “But... why not tell us at home?” Duncan’s mother asked.

  “Because I couldn’t.”

  “What is it, son? Are you in trouble?” Ronald asked.

  Duncan chuckled darkly. “I guess it depends on how you view this. I found my mate.” Duncan didn’t have the time to continue because his mother was already standing and coming to him.

  “That’s wonderful news!”

  Duncan shook his head and held a hand up. “I’m not sure you’ll be of the same opinion when I tell you my mate is a man.”

  That stopped his mother. She froze in her path, her eyes wide. “What did you say?”

  “I said that my mate is a man.”

  A chair screeched and Duncan’s father was up, his fists tightened at his sides, his face deformed by anger. “What’re you saying? You’re a fag like your brother?”

  Kameron got up too, and Duncan followed suit. “I’m not gay but bisexual.”

  “That’s as good as queer in my book.” The man raised a fist as if to hit Duncan, but Kameron was there, holding a hand up and stopping him, not that Duncan would’ve had problems dealing with his father. He just didn’t want to.

  “Keep your hands to yourself, Ronald. I won’t accept you hitting another pack member, especially not for finding his mate.”

  Ronald spat on the floor in front of Kameron. “I should have known you’d take his side. You’re a fag just like he is, you and those other freaks you chose for your inner circle. This would never have happened with Erskine.”

  Kameron’s eyes were calm when he answered, “No, it wouldn’t, but then you would never have had the opportunity to even talk to me after spitting on my floor. You’d already be in the pack’s jail, or worse, and you should remember that. I won’t accept you demeaning me or any other pack members, and I won’t accept you going against my orders to leave your sons to live their lives like they want to.”

  Ronald sneered. “I don’t have sons.” His gaze focused on Duncan, and Duncan felt a pang of pain, a vise tightening around his heart. He’d known this would happen, but it didn’t mean he was ready for it. The two people looking at him like they’d never seen him were still his parents.

  Kameron nodded again. “Duncan will go home and get his things while the two of you stay here.”

  “He can’t! I won’t let him take away anything!”

  “I’ll just grab the stuff from my room, dad,” Duncan said tiredly. He didn’t want to fight, because he knew it would do no good. He’d seen how his parents had written Derick off, and he knew they were doing the same thing with him.

  “I forbid you to enter my house!”

  Duncan’s father moved toward him again and a fist flew. Duncan stopped it before it could hit his face. He tightened his hand around his father’s hand. “I’ll take my things and move out. You won’t have to see me again if you don’t want to. But don’t try to hit me again, ever.”

  Duncan’s father looked like he wanted to try it anyway, so Duncan tightened his hand even more. He let go only when his father made a pained grimace. The man stumbled backward, his wife there right away to avoid him falling.

  Duncan looked at his alpha. “I’m going now.”

  Kameron nodded. “Take Craig and Thomas with you. They’re waiting in the living room with boxes. Bring your things back here and we’ll put them in one of the upstairs rooms until we find you a house.”

  Duncan gave his parents one last glance and walked out of the room.

  Chapter Four

  By the time Demi got there, Noah was nearly bouncing on his feet. “Finally!”

  “Hey, I told you I had work to do.”

  “I know, sorry.”

  Noah did his best to keep his mouth shut when Demi started eating, but he couldn’t do it for the long-run, so as soon as the first bites of chicken had disappeared into Demi’s mouth, Noah bounced on his bed and sat with his legs crossed, his hands bundled together in his lap. “I have a date.”

  Demi arched a brow. “Oh?”

  “Don’t you want to know with who?”

  “I thought that was obvious.”

  Noah pouted. “Fine, maybe it is.”

  “You managed to get your father give you permission to go out?”

  “Yes. He didn’t care as long as I behave myself accordingly.”

  “Of course.”

  Noah waited for his friend to elaborate, but Demi was concentrating on his meal. Noah huffed and threw his hands in the air. “Fine, I’ll tell you even if you’re not asking.”

  “I’m here. I thought the fact that I want to know and help was made obvious by that.”

  “We texted and Duncan asked me out.”

  “And you said yes.”

  “Of course I did.”

  “Right. Why did you say yes?”

  “Because I wanted to go.”

  “Isn’t that going to make it harder to put some distance between you and Duncan when you’ll have to, though?”

  Noah looked down at his hands. “I guess it will.”

  “So? What do you want from me?”

  Noah grabbed the sheet his father had given him and handed it to Demi. “Father gave me this. He told me to choose one.”

  Demi took a look at it. “They’re cute. It could have been worse.”

  “But I don’t want any of them!”

  “Why not? Did you have someone else in mind?”

  Noah threw his hands in the air in frustration. He knew Demi was being obtuse on purpose. He’d always done that—he wanted Noah to make a decision on his own, and the only help he was going to give him was listening to him and maybe, if Noah was lucky, give him a little advice. “You know I’m gay, Demi.”

  “It’s never been a problem until now.”

  “Demi, you’re making this difficult.”

  “That’s the point. Come on, tell me.”

  “Okay. It’s a problem now because of Duncan.”

  When Noah didn’t elaborate, Demi waved his chicken leg at him. “More.”

  “I’m his mate. That means I should be with him.”

  “No, it doesn’t. It just means that he’s probably the perfect man for you. You don’t have to be with him, though, not if you don’t want to.”

  “But what if I do want to?”

  “You don’t even know him.”

  “He seemed nice, Demi. You can’t deny that.”

  “Is nice enough to go against what your parents expect from you?”

  Noah chewed on his lower lip. “I think... this is not about Duncan.”

  “Oh?” Demi finished eating and cleaned his hands with a napkin, his eyes never leaving Noah.

  “It’s not. Yes, he might be the one who started this, but ultimately I shouldn’t be doing it for him.”

  “Doing what, Noah? What did Duncan start?”

  “He made me want more.”

  Demi sighed and looked at his watch. “I know this is important, but I have to go back to work soon, so if you could start talking and stop making me torture everything out of you, I’d be grateful.”

  “It’s just... I always knew
I didn’t have to do what my parents want me to do, but I never had a good reason not to.”

  “Having to marry someone you don’t like or even know isn’t a good enough reason? Having to go into the family business instead of doing what you really want and what you’re good at isn’t?”

  “Yes, it is, but it was easy to convince myself I could do without painting or falling in love if it meant keeping them. But, you know, Duncan told me he was going to tell his parents about me even if he knows they’re homophobic and will disown him. I’m that important to him. It made me think that, well, he’s doing this to be able to eventually have a relationship with me, but also because he knows it will make him happier in the long-run. I’m just letting my parents decide for me without even thinking about my own happiness. They... they’re my parents. Shouldn’t they want me to be happy, even if it goes against what they want?”

  “They should, but it doesn’t mean they will.”

  “You’re not helping.” Noah sighed and buried his face in his hands. He felt the mattress dip beside him and a strong arm sliding around his shoulders, squeezing them and reassuring him. Demi smelled of sweat and sun, and it took Noah back to a time when they didn’t have to make life-changing decisions.

  “Noah, have you ever told them you didn’t want the same thing they do?”

  Noah shook his head. “No, of course not.”

  “Then how do you know they won’t be okay with it?”

  Noah snorted and looked at his best friend. “Seriously? You’ve met my father, Demi. You know he’s all about family, keeping the Newcombie name high and respectable, taking care of what my ancestors built. I want to paint and to be with a shifter. How well do you think that’s going to go down with him?”

  “I think you’re underestimating your family, Noah, but even if you’re not, you’re going to have to make a decision, and this time you can’t postpone it anymore, not if you want to avoid finding yourself married to a woman. It looks like that’s coming closer and closer.”

  “It is.”

  Demi removed his arm from Noah’s shoulder. “What are you going to do now?”

  “I’m going to go out with Duncan and think about a way to sustain myself if I end up being booted out of the family.”

  “You could be an art teacher.”

  “Oh sure. Let me apply for a teaching job in a human school. I’m sure no one will have anything to say about my horns, let alone my hair, my swirls and my tail.”

  “No need to be sarcastic. I’m just trying to help.”

  “I know. Sorry.”

  “Look, you do have to find a way to make this work if you’re really going to talk with your parents, but I think it can wait at least a few days. You obviously can’t work with humans, but maybe Duncan could help you to find something with shifters.”

  Noah stiffened. Duncan was the proof shifters weren’t the beasts he’d been taught they were, and the others he’d met hadn’t seemed so bad, but how was he to know they weren’t an exception? “I don’t want to depend on him.”

  “Who said you had to? I’m just saying that if you’re going to go through with this you’ll need more friends than me. I can’t help you outside of this town, and you obviously have less options than any human or even shifter would have. You’ll have to work with people who know about demons and don’t mind them, and who better than other paranormal creatures?”

  “I have to think about it.”

  Demi patted Noah’s shoulder and got up. “Of course you do. You’re planning a life-changing decision, Noah. I would be worried if you didn’t think about it.”

  Noah led Demi to the front door even if his friend had been in the house more than some of Noah’s cousins. It simply wasn’t done to let guests wander on their own. Once he was back in his room, he grabbed his cell phone again and typed a message.

  Friday is fine. Did you already have something planned?

  He didn’t have to wait long for the answer.

  Dinner?

  I can’t exactly go to a human restaurant.

  Who said we’d go to a human restaurant?

  What did you have in mind then?

  You’ll see. Trust me?

  Noah hesitated. He wanted to trust Duncan, but it was too soon. They didn’t know each other well enough for that yet.

  I don’t know.

  Is a picnic ok?

  Where?

  Whitedell.

  Anywhere public?

  Nope. I know you can’t be seen, don’t worry.

  Noah took a deep breath and decided to take a step of faith and trust Duncan.

  All right. Picnic it is then.

  Great! See u Friday! XOXO

  Noah looked at the sky outside his window and let the warm feeling in his gut take over. He smiled. He had a date with Duncan, someone who didn’t want him for his money, who didn’t even know for sure he had money. Someone who didn’t want him for his name, like most of Noah’s other dates had. Someone with whom Noah didn’t have to be too careful about what he said. It was going to be a great night.

  * * * *

  Duncan looked around the small room that was now his and sighed. He wanted to show Noah he could rely on him, but there was no way it was going to be possible until he moved out of the alpha’s house. How could anyone rely on Duncan when he wasn’t even living in his own house?

  Not that he was ungrateful to Kameron, but he’d lived with his parents all his life and he couldn’t wait to have a house that was his alone. The problem was that there was only one house Duncan could have moved into in pack territory, but it’d been Stan’s until recently, and there was no way in hell Duncan would live there. He’d seen the house when Kameron had rescued Zach, and he knew what had happened there. There was only one thing that could be done with it, and that was to burn it down. Duncan didn’t think anyone would want to live there anyway.

  Still, it was the only empty house that was decent enough to live in, and that meant that Duncan would have to either wait until someone moved out of one of the others or choose one of those in a bad state and work on it. He didn’t hold many hopes for the first option to happen—people rarely left the pack, especially families.

  Duncan knew Kameron would help him with the money for a house, so that wouldn’t be a problem, but Duncan was still hesitating. He wanted that house to be his and Noah’s, but he didn’t think Noah would react well if he asked him to help plan a house that would be theirs at this point. The man was already skittish as it was, and pushing too hard too fast wouldn’t help Duncan show Noah how good they could be together.

  Duncan finished toweling his hair dry and grabbed the shirt he’d left on the bed. He dressed quickly, took his cell phone, his wallet and his keys, and headed out.

  Kameron had been so nice giving him one of the upstairs rooms. Duncan had been speechless, but he was grateful for it. That way he didn’t have to spend too much time downstairs and answer questions he didn’t want to answer.

  It had been nearly a week since he talked to his parents, and by now the entire pack knew what had happened. Most members were supportive, even if a little nosy, but some of them clearly stood on his parents’ side. They hadn’t tried to bully or insult him, but he could do without the hateful glares and disgusted grimaces. At least most of the members who did that usually avoided the alpha’s house.

  The real bother was the ones who wanted to know everything. Someone had asked who Duncan’s mate was and where he was, why he wasn’t in pack territory yet, why Duncan hadn’t claimed him. Someone else had wanted to know why Duncan hadn’t admitted to being gay when Kameron had become alpha. He’d had a hard time explaining he wasn’t gay but bisexual, and he didn’t want to go through another one of those conversations. He still shuddered at the image that had popped in his mind when Abigail, one of the pack’s widows and Rick’s mother, had proposed a threesome, since Duncan liked both men and women. It had been useless telling her being
bisexual didn’t mean he wanted to have sex with two people at once.

  “Going out?” Zach asked from the kitchen when Duncan passed by it.

  Duncan nodded. “Yeah. I’m taking Noah out.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “The mansion. I called Dominic, and he’s letting me use the pond. That way Noah won’t have to worry about people seeing his horns.”

  “That’s still weird to think about.”

  “Yeah, but they’re cute.”

  “They suit him, and I love the blue.”

  Duncan nodded and beamed. “I wonder if those swirls cover his entire body or only parts of it.”

  “That’s not something I want to think about, but I hope for your sake you’ll find out soon enough. Have fun.”

  Duncan waved at the alpha mate and made his way to the car he’d parked behind the house. Luckily for him he’d paid for it with his own money, because his parents had already tried to force him to give it to them. He checked the address Noah had given him one last time and entered it in his GPS, then drove off.

  The weather was perfect for a picnic and Duncan was grateful to Dominic for giving him free access to the mansion’s pond, even if it meant he and Noah would probably have to stop by and chat with about half the pride. Duncan didn’t mind. The pride was almost a second family for him since his brother had moved there, and he’d started dividing his time between Gillham and Whitedell. It was a longish drive, but he didn’t mind doing it, especially not that day.

  The address Noah had given him was closer to Whitedell than Gillham, and it took Duncan an hour and a half to get there. He drove until the car was pretty much in the middle of nowhere and parked. He wasn’t surprised at the remote location—shifters lived isolated too, after all, and they didn’t even look different from humans. Demons were an entirely different story, and Duncan was actually surprised that Noah and his friend had gone out in the human world to go dancing. While it was true that no one had batted an eyelash at them, it made Duncan uneasy to think someone could have spotted them.